Not since Ex Commissioner
Roxanne Palone took a verbal swing at the hunters of Pa has
there been a blatant attempt by the PGC to label Pa Deer Hunters
as a bunch of “temper tantrum” children throwing fits because
of the declining deer herd. It was truly a shameful article.
It’s no wonder that nearly 200,000 adult resident hunters
have quit hunting since this mess started.

In the August Pa Game News there was
an article titled ‘History of the Whitetail Deer – Enough’.
The Enough article was used by the PGC to slam and embarrass
Pa Deer Hunters. The same Pa Deer Hunters that are trying
to grow the sport for the masses. In the Enough article the
PGC uses the analogy of “that child in Target who wants the
blue ball from the display of colorful consumerism. The accompanying
adult vetoes this request. The child promptly begins the characteristic
behavior known as the temper tantrum”. The Game Commission
is comparing this ball wanting to deer wanting. The Game Commission
now had two options. Give the kids some deer or say no and
lose them as hunters for the rest of their lives. This was
an easy decision for the Game Commission as they decimated
the deer herd and now kids play on the computer rather than
hunt. Again, it’s no wonder that nearly 200,000 adult resident
hunters have quit hunting since this mess started.

I am a ball player, have been all
my life and still am. When my girls stood in front of the
colorful ball display and asked if they could have a ball,
I said how many do you want. My girls turned into ballplayers.
If my girls did not go down the aisle that had the colorful
ball display, I led them to it. My girls turned into ballplayers.
My wife and I got them a baseball every Easter. We got them
balls for their birthdays. My girls turned into ballplayers.
We now have a grandson and a granddaughter. Guess how many
balls we have on our back porch. Hey Game Commission, No blue
balls – No Ballplayers. Hey Game Commission, when you started
this mess of concurrent seasons with 800,000 doe tags and
whacked the deer herd in half in two years, what did you think
would happen. The answer is that you knew what would happen.
Again, it’s no wonder that nearly 200,000 adult resident hunters
have quit hunting since this mess started.

In contrast to the facts, the Enough
article states “At the turn of this century Pennsylvania’s
deer population was likely the highest it has ever been” and
“In response to this ballooning deer population, which was
nearly twice as many as recommended by forest-based management
objectives, the Game Commission again began to raise antlerless
allocations”. The fact is that in the 1980’s the Game Commission
started reducing deer numbers by offering bonus tags. The
Maximum Sustained Yield (MSY) management system was started.
In the beginning the deer numbers where at 100% of over-wintering
habitat capacity. Some 10 years into MSY deer numbers were
reduced by 50%. Then at the turn of the century this mess
of concurrent seasons with 800,000 doe tags whacked the deer
herd in half in two years. Let’s get this straight. Everyone
knows deer populations are low. Some are happy and again,
it’s no wonder that nearly 200,000 adult resident hunters
have quit hunting since this mess started.

At the end of the Enough article the
Game Commission talks about or should I say makes fun of hunters
about not wanting change. A change that USP would like to
see is an increase of 200,000 hunters. We would like to see
deer numbers at MSY levels. We do not want a deer behind every
tree. We would like to see smaller management units to ensure
deer populations do not get to high.